man: and now we're helping the east coast recover from hurricane sandy. we're a leading global insurance company, based right here in america. we've repaid every dollar america lent us. everything, plus a profit of more than $22 billion. for the american people. thank you, america. helping people recover and rebuild -- that's what we do. now let's bring on tomorrow. >>> washington continues to toy with creating another economic crisis. what are the consequences? welcome. i'm ali velshi. the government has paid its bills on time for 237 years and now congress is threatening to blow it. earlier this week, the ratings agency fitch threatened to downgrade america's sovereign credit rating if washington failed to resolve the issue in a timely manner. s&p downgraded america's perfect credit rating back in august of 2011. fitch didn't do it at the time. but the last time we had one of these debt ceiling debacles that embarrassment was the first downgrade of u.s. credit in history. if congress doesn't act and we default for the first time ever, the consequences a